Is this a new announcement? If so, I really think Purdah rules should be extended to devolved governments, especially where the devolved politicians are playing such an active role in the UK parliamentary campaign.

But in terms of the proposal itself. Does this really make sense? I guess it could attract staff living in the North West of England (probably to a greater extent than a Cardiff-HQ could attract staff based in the South West of England). But the immediate talent pool has got to be more limited than in Cardiff, which has a bit of a speciality in risk management I thought. And there will surely be a lot more travel involved as the bulk of the population (and client base) will be in the South.

Yeah, that makes loads of sense. Let's locate our development bank a good 3 to 4hr train ride away from the nation's capital city and the seat of devolved power, not to mention the most economically important centre of Wales!

So what, they're looking to tap into all the back-office jobs in Manchester are they? They going to attract staff from such a huge talent pool in North Wales!

It's this "spread everything around" attitude to buy votes and please everyone and no-one at the same time which has led to billions of pounds of precious EU funding being utterly squandered. When are people going to understand that we need to build a critical mass of business around Cardiff metro region (where the bulk of the Welsh population live) to drive the economy forward?

I’m in two minds on this one as I now live in Cardiff (for the past 16 years) but I’m originally from Wrexham and it and the surrounding area desperately needs something like this.

Am I right that the development bank will take on the role of finance wales and mainly be a vehicle to invest in SMEs? The Cardiff area can probably attract enough private funding for business development without the intervention of the state. Whereas in North Wales without something like a Development Bank putting in some funding small business aren’t as likely to get off the ground, and are less likely to relocate.

Wrexham is close to Chester, Liverpool and Manchester which has financial talent available and is a pretty good location to encourage business in those areas to relocate to Wales. If the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ comes to fruition we’re likely to see a drain of people and business from north Wales into the North of England (in addition to those like me, who move south!). Is that good for the Welsh economy?

Yes, the distance from Cardiff is an issue but it might be the boot up the bum needed to invest in some better road and rail links between the north and south.

daearegwr wrote:Yes, the distance from Cardiff is an issue but it might be the boot up the bum needed to invest in some better road and rail links between the north and south.

No. 50 jobs and a small-ish bank aren't enough to warrant the billions that would be required to improve North-South links significantly. It just makes more sense to improve East-West links given population patterns, goods, visitor and commuter flows. Yes, they would change with improved links. But not enough to justify the cost. Manchester - Holyhead corridor and Bristol - Swansea corridor are the two most important routes in Wales, with Swansea-Ross, and Cardiff-Merthyr next.

daearegwr wrote:Yes, the distance from Cardiff is an issue but it might be the boot up the bum needed to invest in some better road and rail links between the north and south.

No. 50 jobs and a small-ish bank aren't enough to warrant the billions that would be required to improve North-South links significantly. It just makes more sense to improve East-West links given population patterns, goods, visitor and commuter flows. Yes, they would change with improved links. But not enough to justify the cost. Manchester - Holyhead corridor and Bristol - Swansea corridor are the two most important routes in Wales, with Swansea-Ross, and Cardiff-Merthyr next.

^^^this

why do we insist on trying to tie up North and South Wales when the very obvious economic axis is East/West

daearegwr wrote:Yes, the distance from Cardiff is an issue but it might be the boot up the bum needed to invest in some better road and rail links between the north and south.

No. 50 jobs and a small-ish bank aren't enough to warrant the billions that would be required to improve North-South links significantly. It just makes more sense to improve East-West links given population patterns, goods, visitor and commuter flows. Yes, they would change with improved links. But not enough to justify the cost. Manchester - Holyhead corridor and Bristol - Swansea corridor are the two most important routes in Wales, with Swansea-Ross, and Cardiff-Merthyr next.

^^^this

why do we insist on trying to tie up North and South Wales when the very obvious economic axis is East/West

Welsh nationalists and their ilk want north/south links improved in order to unify Wales culturally and economically. English/British nationalists want the East/West links because they don't see the aims of Welsh nationalists as being relevant or important.

Divide and rule is a very ancient way of building an empire and maintaining rule in client states or vassal territories. But naturally you and Cambo will deny that this occurs.

I can hear you now "Ooh, the very suggestion that England would divide and rule...how very rude! The English would never do that, or start wars, or depose democratically elected leaders, or invade other countries, or commit genocide, or destroy cultures, or impose their own language and religion. The English are the most marvellous people on Earth...they invented cucumber sandwiches and cricket! London is full of smiling hipsters from all over the world! I voted remain and England should have too! If it weren't for those damned uneducated working class oiks we could have had our Utopia!.

RandomComment wrote:No. 50 jobs and a small-ish bank aren't enough to warrant the billions that would be required to improve North-South links significantly. It just makes more sense to improve East-West links given population patterns, goods, visitor and commuter flows. Yes, they would change with improved links. But not enough to justify the cost. Manchester - Holyhead corridor and Bristol - Swansea corridor are the two most important routes in Wales, with Swansea-Ross, and Cardiff-Merthyr next.

^^^this

why do we insist on trying to tie up North and South Wales when the very obvious economic axis is East/West

Welsh nationalists and their ilk want north/south links improved in order to unify Wales culturally and economically. English/British nationalists want the East/West links because they don't see the aims of Welsh nationalists as being relevant or important.

Divide and rule is a very ancient way of building an empire and maintaining rule in client states or vassal territories. But naturally you and Cambo will deny that this occurs.

I can hear you now "Ooh, the very suggestion that England would divide and rule...how very rude! The English would never do that, or start wars, or depose democratically elected leaders, or invade other countries, or commit genocide, or destroy cultures, or impose their own language and religion. The English are the most marvellous people on Earth...they invented cucumber sandwiches and cricket! London is full of smiling hipsters from all over the world! I voted remain and England should have too! If it weren't for those damned uneducated working class oiks we could have had our Utopia!.

This is just laughable. History is full of one group of people being shit to other groups. The English were just more successful at it than most for a few hundred years. They say history is written by the winners - well, that might have been true under Whiggest historiography. But in modern leftist histories, its written by losers who seem to forget the shit things their ancestors did (perhaps to even less fortunate groups or further back in time). Does that excuse the shit the English did? No. Does it exclude shit Britain sometimes does today? Certainly not. But neither does it warrant the nationalist's division of history into "goodies" (themselves) and "baddies" (the 'enemy').

Anyway back to roads. Do I see some plot in transport investment to bind the Welsh to England and keep the Welsh divided? Not really. Having lived in England I can say the predominant opinion of Wales is "Meh". They don't give us much thought. And that goes right up to the "elite" too. These sorts of decisions are taken on pragmatic grounds not some sort of colonial divide-and-rule policy. Any impacts on Welsh politics are by-the-by.

But you seem to like a good conspiracy theory (ever the prerogative of the nationalist).

why do we insist on trying to tie up North and South Wales when the very obvious economic axis is East/West

Welsh nationalists and their ilk want north/south links improved in order to unify Wales culturally and economically. English/British nationalists want the East/West links because they don't see the aims of Welsh nationalists as being relevant or important.

Divide and rule is a very ancient way of building an empire and maintaining rule in client states or vassal territories. But naturally you and Cambo will deny that this occurs.

I can hear you now "Ooh, the very suggestion that England would divide and rule...how very rude! The English would never do that, or start wars, or depose democratically elected leaders, or invade other countries, or commit genocide, or destroy cultures, or impose their own language and religion. The English are the most marvellous people on Earth...they invented cucumber sandwiches and cricket! London is full of smiling hipsters from all over the world! I voted remain and England should have too! If it weren't for those damned uneducated working class oiks we could have had our Utopia!.